Photo 101: Five Tips for Shooting Interiors

I’ve never been a huge fan of rules—especially when it comes to creative outlets like photography, writing, or decorating. Who is anybody to tell you what looks good? Who is anybody to tell you how to decorate your home? If you really love that picture of your cat wearing a Snuggie, who is anybody to tell you that it’s a bad photo? As far as I’m concerned, you gotta do you—critics be gone! Still, this doesn’t stop people from asking me on a semi-regular basis how they can take good photos. Although I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as a “good” photo (people will have an opinion one way or the other), I do have a handful of go-to tips and tricks that I turn to, especially when in doubt. These aren’t rules per se—more guidelines that you can follow when taking photos of your home—a framework within in which you can move around, experiment, and have fun. The great thing about these “rules” is that they are applicable to almost any situation and level of photography. Most cameras today (whether they are top-of-the-line or bottom-shelf) come with manual settings and options for advanced shooting. To follow along with these rules, you only need three things: a camera (make sure you have read its manual), a tripod, and a standard photo editing software (Photoshop is hands-down the ideal, Aperture and Lightroom are also good, iPhoto not so much). Whether your photos are “good” or “bad” is simply up to you, but these five tips will have you pointed in the right direction! Happy shooting! —Max

The human eye is a wonderful thing, capable of adjusting to just about any light temperature—whether it’s the warm yellow of incandescent bulbs or the dull green of fluorescent ones. A camera, however, is downright stupid compared to the human eye. Whereas the eye will take in the glow of an incandescent bulb and interpret it as white light, a camera will just see it as plain ol’ ugly. This is why, when it comes to interior photography, it is best to use only natural light. This is the golden rule when it comes to interior photography (or most other photography, for that matter). If you’re going to follow only one piece of advice from this entire write-up, make sure that it’s this one.

When photographing an interior, you want to make sure that all of your other lights are off. I repeat—turn ALL of your lights OFF. You might be a little bit perplexed by this rule—after all, light is a necessary part of photography. What if the light coming through your window isn’t strong enough? This is what your tripod and your camera’s shutter speed settings are for. Pop your camera onto your tripod to avoid motion blur and slowwwww down the shutter speed to allow for a long exposure. This will allow your camera to pick up whatever light there is in the room and you won’t have to resort to artificial light or, god forbid, your flash.

Once you begin taking interior photos exclusively with natural light, you’ll see just how much more beautiful it makes the final result. Colors will appear fresh and clean, shadows will come from more natural directions (rather than, say, above), and the chances of needing to adjust your white balance in post-production are severely diminished.

Quick note: Although natural light is by far the best light to shoot with, not all natural light is created equal. It’s best to avoid times of day when sun is shining directly into your room—this will keep certain areas from being brighter or more blown out than others. As is true with shooting outdoors, photographing on a cloudy day is actually ideal—clouds act as a natural soft box, diffusing the light and creating even, subdued shadows.

Most cameras today come with the ability to shoot RAW. Unlike JPEGs, which are a “lossy” file compression (meaning that they trash a lot of the photo information in order to save space), RAW files are essentially untouched photographic data. If one were to draw a parallel between digital photography and film photography, a RAW file would be akin to an unprocessed negative—it is essentially a record of light hitting the camera’s sensor and has not yet been turned into pixels.

Of the many reasons to shoot in RAW mode, one of the best is because it allows you to have the most control over your final image. RAW files preserve much more photographic information, allowing you to retrieve seemingly blown-out or underexposed areas, adjust white balance more accurately, and determine the final size of your photo.

Note: When it comes to editing RAW photos, my go-to software is Photoshop—its built-in RAW Editor does a wonderful job and is very feature-rich.

When it comes to composing interior photos, I have found that, when it doubt, it is always best to shoot straight on. Using your room’s architectural framework as a guide, point your camera so that it aligns perfectly with one of your walls. If your camera has a grid or compositional guides in the viewfinder (even iPhones have this feature built in), this is a perfect moment to use that tool. You want to make it so that the wall’s horizontal and vertical lines (along with the horizontal and vertical elements of items along that wall) are aligned, almost as if on a grid, within your viewfinder. Here are some photos that I took of my apartment [which you can read about at length, in case you’re interested, on my fiancé’s blog] to illustrate this idea:

Rather than creating a dynamic composition through overly-dramatic camera angles, this technique allows for a much more harmonious end result—it uses your walls as a blank canvas of sorts with dynamism created through the composition of objects (like brush strokes) within the photograph. This technique also allows you to have more options if and when you decide to crop your photo.

So—to summarize, it is usually best to have your camera pointed straight forward towards a flat surface. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but if you are unsure, it’s always better to err on the side of simplicity. As with most things in life, less is often more. Here are some very professional, highly scientific drawings to further illustrate my point:

One of the biggest obstacles you might encounter when photographing an interior space is lack of space. When shooting indoors, especially within tiny apartments or smaller rooms like kitchens and bathrooms, you might find yourself backed into a wall (literally) when attempting to get the perfect shot. Oftentimes, people’s first instinct is to go out an buy a wide-angle lens to fix this issue, but this option often results in distorted, “fisheyed” images. I’ve found that the best way to get the shot you want is to not change your lens, but change your environment.

It’s important to keep in mind that you, as the photographer, are essentially The Omnipotent Master of The Universe within your photos. Meaning: feel free to move stuff. If you can’t take the perfect photograph of your couch because there’s a big ol’ credenza behind you, move that credenza! If there’s a houseplant where you need your tripod to be, move that houseplant! If you can get a better shot of the room in question from the next room over, then by all means—shoot through the door! BOOM:

This also goes for things that might be getting in the way within your photo. If there are any unsightly cords, objects, or pieces of furniture that are killing your photographic buzz, get rid of ’em! And don’t worry about your documentarian integrity—editing out objects is one of photography’s dirty little secrets (even Civil War photographers moved cannon balls and dead bodies in their photos to create more dramatic compositions, I kid you not).

If you’re shooting close-ups or vignettes within your space, it is important to know how (and when) to use your aperture. Essentially the tool that controls the size of the hole light is allowed to come through, aperture is also responsible for controlling your camera’s depth of field. If you’re shooting a close-up of a vase, for example, and you want your background to be blurred out, the focus tool is just one half of what you will need to achieve that effect. The smaller your aperture number (or the wider the aperture hole), the shallower your depth of field. The larger your aperture number (or the tighter the aperture hole), the more in focus and sharp everything will be. To get a blurred background on your vase photo, then, you will want to shoot with a wider aperture, or the smallest f-stop your camera will allow. Conversely, if you’re shooting a wider space or an entire room, you want to make sure that your f-stop is cranked all the way up so that everything is in sharp focus.

Comments

As a past commercial interior designer for an international interior design firm, I’ve been involved in too many interior photo shoots to count. But the one thing I will say is that for every shot you see published in a magazine, at least an hour (and probably more) of set up, staging has occurred. Furniture has been moved, items have been added or removed, lighting has been added (sometimes even under furniture) or removed, and filters have used on the camera. Shooting digital has been a life saver for many professional interior architecture photographers. It’s not easy, but the rewards are great! All advice given in this article was useful and on point!

Great advice Maxwell. Your tips on using natural light, shooting raw and manually controlling the aperture are so very true. I was intimidated for so long to take my camera out of automatic mode, but once I made the switch to manual, I found that, like you suggest, a little tweaking of things like aperture and ISO make such a huge difference. I will make sure to use only natural light moving forward and really give some added thought to the composition of each shot. Thanks so much for the advice and tips.

Thanks for the guidelines! I’ve been picking up a variety of books on photography from the library, but I can hardly stand looking at the photographs they deem “perfect” or “beautiful.” I agree that beauty is indeed subjective, and I’m glad to have found your post’s alternative perspective to more traditional and technically-driven approaches.

Using natural light is a poor tip. The tip should be “use even light.” You want the light outside the windows and inside to be at the same level. Otherwise you’ll get blasted out by the sunlight coming in and have contrast issues. There are also great LED light panels that allow you to adjust the color temp while setting up your shots. If anything I would add as much light as possible to eliminate shadows; but it doesn’t have to be natural light. Oh yeah, and a tilt-shift lens is essential.

I mentioned the importance of even light within my write-up. Perhaps you didn’t catch it:

“Quick note: Although natural light is by far the best light to shoot with, not all natural light is created equal. It’s best to avoid times of day when sun is shining directly into your room—this will keep certain areas from being brighter or more blown out than others. As is true with shooting outdoors, photographing on a cloudy day is actually ideal—clouds act as a natural soft box, diffusing the light and creating even, subdued shadows.”

However, I must disagree with the assertion that completely indoor/outdoor balanced light or a tilt-shift lens are essential to taking a good photo. Natural light pouring into an unlit room can create beautiful photographs and, as a rule, I use natural light exclusively. Shadows can make for great drama, also, so they should not be banished entirely. Tilt shift lenses, it should also be noted, are prohibitively expensive to the average consumer and hardly necessary if taking standard interior shots.

I love that I was reading this as I was listening to Max talk about his Little Old Man lifestyle manifesto on After the Jump. Very colorful picture being painted in my head at the moment…I digress–great post! As a designer who frequently needs to shoot product on the fly, this concise guideline is super helpful.

Thank you for this post! I am doing a post of my dalmatian wall DIY soon and taking the “After” pictures is definitely proving in a poorly-lit, small apartment. These tricks will definitely help. :D
Xx
Lauren M.http://makeitadoubleplease.com

Great tips! Super helpful. Photographing a whole room is such a daunting task. Not only the camera side, but the staging too. How to edit and arrange for a decent photo composition is hard. I’ll take all the help I can get!

In case someone wanted to try the above advice from Greg, and doesn’t have 2000$ to allow to a lense (as Max pointed out, not everybody does), here’s a DIY tutorial to make your own shift tilt lens: http://cow.mooh.org/projects/tiltshift/
Enjoy

Good stuff here! I am 45 years a professional commercial photographer and can say that these are well thought out guidelines for beginning shooters. Kudos!

One piece of software was neglected in the article that is a bit less user friendly than the “Big Guns” the author mentions but none the less powerful and the best part is that it is FREE! Not an endorsement just a suggestion to check-out a program named “Gimp” for editing digital images.

As to Juliane’s question about what type of camera was used — It is less a matter of one’s tools than it is one’s eye. You can make great photographs with any camera as long as you understand how to “see” and compose artistically pleasing images.

I take exception to your “rule” of only using natural natural light. One of the biggest issues with shooting interiors is showing views to the outside. And outside lighting is usually much brighter than interior lighting. To balance the lighting it is essential to raise the interior light level to match the light outside…by using small off camera flash units bounced off a white ceiling, HDR photography or some combination of both.

Hey, George Draper! I get what you’re saying, but I *still* tend to use natural light when shooting directly at a window. I get around the light balance issue by taking multiple exposures of the same frame and then layering them in Photoshop. I usually find that using artificial lighting (whether it be a flash or strobes or just regular old lamps) produces a relatively unnatural look.

I’m a professional interior photographer based in Toronto and have a few more to add:
– using an inexpensive hot-shoe bubble level that attaches to your camera hot-shoe is a great aid in leveling the camera to keep everything straight
– lowering the camera height similar to a height similar if you were sitting in a chair, gives a more pleasing natural perspective
– KISS, keep it simple rule is golden “less is more”
– you can also control or manipulate the natural light by adjusting blinds, curtains or opening/closing doors. Large white or silver cards are helpful in reducing contrast and large black cards can be used to increase contrast

What a great surprise to see photography tips- thanks! To avoid the pitfalls of a wide angle lens, what would be ideal instead? I bought my first camera a couple of months ago, body only, with a 50mm prime- I’m ready for my next lens! Thanks again.

To the discussion of the exterior illumination being balanced with interior illumination, there are gelatin filters from companies such as Lee and Rosco just to name two that provide both ND Filtering (Neutral Density filtering – Think sunglasses for your windows) and CC Filters (Color Correction filters) to balance interior lighting color temperatures with exterior lighting color temperatures. These filters are clear and usually overlaid on the windows or placed in frames out of sight to the scene.

Being “neutral,” ND Filters pass the color of light within the full spectral range of its source and are color agnostic. Its task is to darken the light level it does not correct color, which is why a photographer might also need a CC Filter. These filters are often used in photography and film making. This all gets rather complicated and may be somewhat beyond the scope of this particular forum so I’ll stop here before everyone’s eyes glaze over (haha).

And now I know why all of my interior photographs look like crap and why all my landscapes look so much better. I just thought I was terrible at indoor photography. Talk about a duh moment. I literally just came from the photography store hoping to find a lens to help me as I will be taking interior photos on Monday and I didn’t have a clue. Can’t wait to try out your tips!!!

This is an excellent set of tips! Took me a long time (esp with film – oy, am I dating myself here?) to get these down pat! One thing to add, having an ‘eye’ for staging a room takes practice. Don’t get discouraged, just keep shooting!

Excellent tips! Spending the time to stage and photographing straight on are the two things that have made a real difference in my photography of interiors and real estate. Thanks for keeping it simple!

This could not have come at a better time. Thank you D*S! I was juuust about to try shooting a couple of interiors for my new site/line, this willhelp me give them the the push I need, and the polish I’m hoping for (and was, til now, mystified about how to achieve). : )

We use to get the most beautiful natural light in our home until 2 years ago when a giant ugly building was built right up to our property line. With much coercing they painted the exterior white so we would get a reflection, but our beautiful large white loft is always dim now. Our walls are also floor to ceiling glass (15 ft high)and we still barely get any nice light. What do you do when you run into a problem like that? Its really sad…

Great tips and – for the most part – I couldn’t agree more… with a BUT. I’ve been doing photo production for a solid 9 years now, and used to swear by Photoshop exclusively, same reasons you mentioned. A year or two ago, I finally incorporated Lightroom, and it COMPLETELY changed my workflow. If you haven’t given it a solid shot, I really can’t recommend it enough – take some time and get familiar. It makes everything go sooooo much faster – culling and color and all. I do the vast majority of my Raw processing and color corrections using LR now, and while I highly recommend it for professionals to expedite workflow, it’s also a little more user-friendly for novice photographers. PS is still where it’s at for retouching, but there’s no loss from the data or edits you make when you’re outputting from LR. I’ve turned into a total geek about it (obviously) but it really has helped that much.
Just my 2 cents!

I have read many a photography tip. These are quite useful. I shoot mostly interiors for my blog and have been attached to my wide angle lens. It doesn’t seem to create a fisheye, but I do notice that most interiors shots I’m drawn to are closer in. I am a details person in real life, so it’s funny that I tend not to focus on those in my photography. Perhaps it’s because my styling isn’t my best talent.

My favorite tip is about moving things to either give yourself more room for a shot, or to remove distracting things from a shot. I’m a very literal person so I tend to take “actual life” photos rather than “styled for photography” photos, but the latter are much more pleasing to look at!

Thank you for this fantastic guide. I have a Camera Canon 500D and have never really used it. I have always wanted to and it is just a month ago that I decided now was the time to get started and learn how to take pictures. I have always envied those who could take those incredible images that you see on blogs. Guides like this really helps get my dream started! Thanks!

“Who is anybody to tell you what looks good?” I guess it depends upon what the photos are for. If they are solely for the purpose of self expression, then, yes, maybe just follow your own preferences as to the look of the photos. However, if your purpose is to use the photos to market your products or services, then I think it is essential to consider how potential clients will respond to your marketing images. If you haven’t been able to test this for yourself, then it seems to me that the kind of photography you can find published in high-quality architecture and interior design books and magazines (both the editorial illustrations and the advertisements) is a good place to start to determine the kind of looks that sell.

Thanks for all the great tips, I am a beginner photographer as a hobby, I have a Fuji X-S1 bridge camera and have searched for many tips on how to get good shots. I have never used auto mode and found that setting my aperture for good distance, ISO, WB on cloudy and setting my EV up a bit to get the right balance gives me very nice interior shots. I always use a tripod as advised.

I’ve been working a little with a real estate agent shooting mostly outdoor for her. I asked her about interior shots that others have done for her and she mentioned that they use a “Light filter” to make everything bright. I’ve never heard of this, does anyone know what she might be referring to?
TIA.

Max, I’m just finding this article but wow is it incredibly helpful! I’m just breaking into editorial interior photography and this is a big help. I agree that the tilt shift lens is prohibitively expensive. I’ve shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and use a variety of lenses to capture both wide angle and detail shots. I’m wondering what lens you use to get a wide angel without dealing with distortion? Thank you!!!

I read this with interest and as always I’m grateful to anyone taking the time and trouble to share information to help others. Without wishing to be overly critical, the windows in one of your shots are ‘blown out’, was this deliberate? I have to be honest and say it doesn’t look good to my eyes.

Thank-you so much for this ! I did buy a wide angle lens but am struggling with composition using it. So by zooming in a bit I remove any distortion but still am able to get more of the room in (I shoot homes for realtors). My challenge has been the horizontal tilt that can happen with a wide angle lens. I never thought of using my grid! I’m also going to try turning off all the lights – gulp. I currently use a tripod and set my ISO to 400 or less. Usually 200. Is this a mistake? Im concerned that more is just too grainy.

Nice article with some good advice. Like a few others have said, I wouldn’t discount using a bit of additional fill from flash. Sometimes you can use reflectors to fill in shadows but there are occasions where you really do need to use flash. Obviously, off camera, bounced off ceiling, floor or back wall etc… Flash is a no brainer when it comes to balancing with daylight. Tilt-shift has been mentioned too, and it certainly has it’s place for keeping everything straight and level, but it’s not an absolute requirement, and certainly not for the beginner as cost is definitely an issue. The end result is what we are all after, using natural light only doesn’t always work. Take a look at a lot of kitchen shots in magazines or brochures for example, and they have all the light on, mixed with natural light, and if you look carefully, you can see where they have added in flash to even everything out. For me, I take a bunch of speedlights, and a bunch of studio strobes, as well as reflectors, light modifiers, and a bag of lenses, I talk to the client to find out what they want the end result to be and spend an hour or two shooting a kitchen, but that’s me :)

Natural light is best – but if you have 10K invested in interior lighting with everything on dimmers and scene controllers it might pay to show that off as well. Well lit interiors with manmade light can be stunning as long as a lighting designer has worked their magic and the camera is set up correctly.

Excellent tips!!! I am just getting started in photographing house interiors for real estate listings and would greatly appreciate some equipment recommendations such as brands, types of lenses, filters etc.

Hi! What lens are you using? or what lens would you recommend for interior photography? Im using Canon 400d (I know! so old. lol) and i have only been using my kit lens in all shoots. Ive always loved my kit lens and believed it can be used in any shoot. But i think i should get a new wide angled lens since in getting into interior photography. As well as, to minimize editing time from the curved edges or fish-eye effect from the photo captured with my kit lens.

definitely really useful tips!! When I started shooting interior back then I always felt under pressure as I was never using additional artificial light. Nowadays this is a very important part of my style and actually a reason why people book me.

I agree with much of the above, but its important to remember that different end usages have different requirements re light…. I shoot a lot with interior mags in the UK (different look to the US mags too), but if I were an estate agent (real estate in the US!) I would want more even light, probably utilising flash guns. For magazines, I shoot 99 percent without artificial light… editorially we go for ‘dark corners’ and more mood… so, if we want to go for a view outside the window (whilst keeping those lovely soft shadows inside), we would use blending of exposures (probably in lightroom with a plug in), rather than blasting out the interior with a flash… anyway, great piece, not sure why you’re giving away all the secrets! Mark

the photos you used are all B/W, are these tips for monochrome photography? I’m no expert, a rookie for sure, but I’ve seen dozens of so called expert interior shots and a mix of some lighting was basically essential?

The “light filter” might referring to the contrast-reducing filters that are used in cinematography. In the days before 14-stop digital cameras they used to be big on compressing the tonal scale toward the middle which can have the effect of making everything look a little brighter.

I like the sentiment about photographing with only natural light, but I question wether we enjoy that experience in real life – It seems most of the time even with light streaming in we tend to turn on lights when in a room. I also wonder does natural light truly show off the textures and color the Designer took pains to use?

It doesn’t matter what experience we enjoy in real life, its about what looks best in the photos. That’s why the author of the article took care to note that our eye is light-smart and can adjust to artificial and natural light mixtures well, but a camera does not, so as photographers we must compensate for that. This translates to other photography areas as well. Is it “realistic” that everybody in the wedding reception was dancing in almost pitch black, with ugly green color lights flashing? Yes. But the couple doesn’t want to see what was “real.” They want to see attractive photographs that match how they felt and what they saw in their minds. This isn’t an article about realistic lifestyle situations, its about taking good photos.

Natural light does indeed show off textures and colors better. I can attest to this, having shot wedding details for years. Have you ever shot designs like these in tungsten or artificial daylight bulb lighting?

Thanks for a generous post. Simple and obvious rules, just what I needed. Made my recent interior shots so much better looking. Especially the straight-on, “simple perspective” tip and being “allowed” to rearrange for the shot made such a difference.

Thanks for the excellent tips. What if I’m trying to shoot a room but also want to capture what’s outside the window? I guess your advice would be to wait until dusk so I don’t over expose the outside portion but what if I cannot wait?

(I just made my first comment on your blog about an hour ago) I did a google search for “best camera lense for interior design photography” and design sponge was #1 on google for that search. So here I am, back…and learning SO much from this article. This might have saved me from purchasing a wide angle lense! Ha. My wallet thanks you. I am having the hardest time photographing my tiny farmhouse renovations, but maybe I just have the settings incorrect or am picking really complicated angles instead of straight on as suggested. Thanks so much for this post! I will be checking back to read a few times, because I am still trying to understand aperture.

Great great great article! I’m so glad I found this. Thanks so much for your great tips. I’m new to photography. I’ve been wanting to take cool photos of interiors, e.g. hotel rooms, like you would see in hipster magazines and I didn’t know how to do it. Grids, got it. By the way, great looking blog!

Hi, I have been trying to photograph an old abandoned house in my local area. It still holds some furniture and the natural light that gets through the Windows is also great, but the rooms are quite small, even if I use all those tips you’ve written. I’m using an 18-70mm and I found it isn’t wide enough, but I don’t want to buy a fisheye either. Do you think I should move to a 16mm? Would that make a noticeable difference? Would a 14mm be too wide?

Great Tips here! I found this article because last week, I went to go shoot a job. Four rooms. Four exhausting hours later, came home and discovered that my memory card was busted. (yes, a call to Canon and the guy was very helpful)

NO PHOTOS! They were taking, but not recording!

Yes, bummer indeed!

Reshoot is Tuesday, only this time it’s going to be cloudy. I was looking for tips for shooting on a cloudy day. I had heard that it’s preferable and you corroborated that. Although sometimes when I use my cell phone, the shots don’t turn out as well on a cloudy day.

I studied photography years ago in college for my commercial art degree. I’m a Realtor, husband is a remodeling contractor. We’ve spent a lot for photography so we just bought a Canon Rebel T6 that I’m working learning. My old camera is a Canon AE1. I’m finding my colors are off on the home remodels due to lack of light and trying flash. Your article is very helpful…I’ve already picked up some tips. My concern is that I’m shooting basement rooms without windows. so I have no natural light. Any suggestions? Many thanks!

Particularly enjoyed the tip about shooting straight. Having done portraiture for some time, most of these ideas are natural, but shooting straight is a great tip I might not have considered! Using the wall as a canvas is the perfect explanation :) Thanks!

I do prefer using natural light for interior shots yet some homeowners have created incredible interior lighting which becomes another wonderful feature about the home. If I can bring in more buyers for the REA, the more appointments I book. Light stirs people’s emotions. The reason I’m writing here to begin with is to caution photogs about using HDR. Holy Moly! 99.9% of HDR use in interior shots is horrendous. More is NOT better!!! As soon as you can see the effect, STOP. Less IS more!!! That’s all I wanted to say.
This was a great article. Glad there are people out there willing to mentor others.

Great article on how to shoot basic interiors as a basic but again this varies for more sophisticated clients. I have recently shot luxury hotels in the countryside who have wanted evening mood photography. So the steps above change drastically as you are limited with natural light from outside. The key to getting the best shots is to take interior photography around dusk ideally, that way there is a nice balance and blue sky which you can get from lowering you shutter speed but maintaining detail by increasing your F stops. That is just one point but i agree with some of the guys above that it all depends on the client brief. Evening photography is a challenge when light is limited.

Love your article. I paint furniture and photograph the furniture for my FB page and website. I am in desperate need of a new camera (I have an 11 yr old Nikon D40!) I am looking at the Nikon 6d or 7d but need advice on lenses to buy. I shoot the whole piece of furniture but do a lot of photos showing close up detail. I have very limited photography knowledge – in fact I have none and am very keen to learn. A friend suggested 3 lenses – a 35mm a 50mm and a 100mm Prime. Any suggestions for me. I am visiting NYC next week and will buy everything then. Thanks

I am going to Europe soon and will be using a Canon EOS Rebel T-3i. In addition to the proverbial “there I was” shots, I’d like to experiment with fish eye lenses for church and museum interiors, etc. In most if not all cases, I want to shoot with natural light. I’m presupposing that I can manually set my 18-235mm fish eye to F stop 5.6 with a 200 ISO and get some decent, first time results. In your estimation, do you have a better alternative for tack sharp shots? I am totally an amateur shutterbug and took all my recent Disney World vacation shots on auto just to keep from screwing up. They all turned out great, but now it’s time to leave the nest. I will not be using the fish eye effect for exterior shots, so your commentary on both interior and exterior photography will be most appreciated. Thank you.

Like you said, natural light is an amazing way to improve real estate photographs! Shooting RAW is also good. Like some of the comments already mention, don’t forget to use a wide angle lens! You would be amazed at how much space doing so adds to a room.

Check out the Canon 17-40 f/4. Great lens and in your price range. And while it doesn’t stop down to f/2.8, you’ll rarely need to go that low because you’ll likely be shooting higher apertures for sharpness anyways. :)

This is the most helpful article I’ve found. I am a portrait photographer but over the past 5 months I’ve been shooting real estate. Now I want to venture into interior design photography.
I will be using all of your tips. Especially after my first shoot a few weeks ago….the colors were off and white balance was hard to fix because I turned all of the lights on. Which is what I was taught to do in real estate but it sucks for interiors. Thanks for this awesome article!

Re: natural light. Not always should you rely on it only. Sometimes artificial light is beautiful and nice to expose in the photograph, especially in situations when it was designed by professional light designer. Or imagine taking shot of a room where there is no windows, or they are small. In such situations extra light sources might help to fight deep shadow areas or add necessary light for proper exposure and colors rendering. Of course, it should be done in a way that this extra artificial light would not be visible to the viewer.

So true. Imagine walking into a room without artificial light. More often than not when you first walk into a room you want to turn on a light to see it in “Better Light”. Same goes for Real Estate photography. Natural light is wonderful but it has it’s limits. Both artificial and and natural are good. It all boils down to what you see in your eye as being the best to apply (artificial) or use (natural).

Thank you for all this wonderful information. I have been doing it all wrong. I wrote down all the specifics you talked about and can’t wait to get my camera and check it all out along with getting polarizer and tri-pod. Much appreciated

I’ve been curious about interior photography for a while now, and I think that getting some tips would be good. I’m glad that you talked about being able to have the camera pointed straightforward when shooting interiors. I might just look for some professional interior photographers and see what my options are! Thanks for the tips!

Thank you this was great. I am a portrait photographer exploring interior design. Sounds like I need a tripod. My lens currently for my Cannon 6D is 24-105mm, will this work? Or should I get a new lens, if so which? You talked about shooting w a higher f-stop for crisp backgrounds, can you give how high of an f stop? In my family shoots I shoot w f-stop at 4.5 or 5.0. I think my lens goes down only to 4.5, which shouldn’t be an issue…wondering how high I need to set it. Thanks!

Hello!
I started taking pictures for a real estate agent and (waiting to buy a full frame camera) I use a nikon d3100 with a Samyang 14mm lens. To get everything in focus I have to close the diaphragm to f / 22 but this forced me to increase the ISO to maximum creating a lot of noise or to have long exposures up to 30 seconds. I have not yet learned to use the bulb. But being that photographer houses with people inside because they are the owners I would not want to lose more than an hour maximum an hour and a half because otherwise they get annoyed. Where I live, everyone goes in a hurry and although I try to accustom others not to do it with photography, I can not force them. How can I get a good sharpness, without noise, with good light and not too long shutter speeds? Thank you so much

Many many thanks for sharing such a superclass tips. These tips were really useful, particularly since I was searching for thoughts on this subject last Thursday. I really appreciate your wonderful explanation. I will certainly dig it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this website.

Hi Max! Was scouring the internet for something like this – thank Google for bringing be here!
We have a rental business and I have recently purchased a Canon DSLR with 10-18mm and been steadily improving my skills with manual mode and post-processing using Adobe Lightroom. One thing however that I can’t seem to perfect yet is the Aperture.
I shoot rooms at ISO 200 and F between F8 to F11 but can’t seem to get my photos to be ALL SHARP. Usually a part is sharp and. the other is not. What do you suggest?

I liked that you pointed out that it would be smart to try to shoot photos in RAW. It is great to know that you can compress those files. That does seem like it could be very helpful when you need to send a lot of photos to someone. I know that I wouldn’t want to have to worry about having a hard time getting photos.

Wo -hooo
These are indeed excellent tips.
I am all set for my photo shoot of green soft furnishings.but sunlight infact is woeful in certain cases. Any tip whilst focusing on the windows to shoot for blinds and curtains?!

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